Wow - fantastic video, Utkarsh!! I really enjoyed that, it brought me back to my incredible Ted McCarty DC/SC 245 adventure that lasted from the PRS Experience in 2009 as the original Ted McCarty Limited Run was announced, through 2016 when the 594 was launched.
Well researched, especially considering you just discovered the model recently. Great tone demos as well!
Your video highlights something interesting for me, having owned many Ted McCarty guitars and 594's, both DC and SC.
Here is the count of my Ted McCarty and 245 Guitars, as I posted in my "2024 Return" Thread:
I did find an old spreadsheet that specifically tracked the Teds. It looks like I owned 29 Ted 245's in total, 18 DCs and 11 SCs. 5 from the original 2009 Run from PRS, 5 from the first Willcutt's WL run, 7 from the second Willcutt's second WL run, and 1 from Willcutt's third WL run (I had forgotten that there were three Willcutt Wood Library Runs!), 11 of them Private Stocks - 4 PS's that were a dealer spec (two of those traded to Howard Leese) and a whopping 7 PS's I spec'ed myself. Wow!
Those stats are just Ted's, I also owned 5 more 245's, 2 pre-Ted SC 245's (2008 Experience and Sunburst 245) and 3 SC 58's. So 34 total 245's. Possibly more, if I am missing any...
(Only 1 was a trem, it was amazing. I traded it to Howard Leese, he gigged that regularly for a couple of years from what I saw.)
(Also - I missed one 245 in my count above - and it happens to be in your collection now, coincidentally! LOL... I also forgot to count the 3 Private Stock McCarty Singlecuts from 2014, so I guess 38 total 245's.
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So what I find interesting is that with the Ted McCarty's I found that I preferred the tone of the Doublecuts over the Singlecuts. The best Doublecuts to me sounded better than any of the Singlecuts. I liked the Singlecuts too, because they had that classic Singlecut look and vibe, but I preferred the Doublecuts, both for tone and for ergonomics for a gig. Of the 11 Private Stocks, I believe 9 were DC and two were SC.
Then when the 594's came out in Feb of 2016, I was smitten with those, and bought many of them. Then the SC 594 came out, I snagged two of the Prototypes built by the Private Stock team, and acquired many of the original Core ones, and then started building Private Stocks. Then I went though another SC and DC Ted phase in 2020 when PRS switched the Core line to the Nitro over CAB finish, and had a good mix of SC and DC 594s. At the end of the day, I always preferred the feel and tone of the SC 594 over the DC 594. My band experience ended in 2015, so I never played out with a 594, but I would have likely taken a DC 594 playing out, for the ergonomic advantage of a DC. But still, I clearly greatly preferred the DC over the SC in the 245's, and I clearly preferred the SC over the DC in the 594's. And for the life of me I have no idea whatsoever why that is! I don't even have a theory. I will have to think about that one.
Thanks for the great video and the trip down memory lane!
I think I really do need to recreate my old Chronicle Thread from VR here. I think it would help me understand things better if I had to write it all down now in sequence.
